Probation court—held four times a month at the Durham County Courthouse—bustles on a Tuesday morning in May. Here, Courtroom 7C is filled with chatter. Attorneys…
Posts published in “Courthouse Project”
Rocks struck the brown vinyl exterior of Deyli’s Durham home last November. Like a baseball player, her ex-boyfriend pitched each rock with a grin as…
Andréa “Muffin” Hudson is an activist for incarcerated individuals, directs two criminal justice nonprofits, and believes prisons do catastrophic harm. She is also a gun owner. …
While most of my friends spent Halloween at costume parties or trick-or-treating, I was at the Durham County Courthouse listening to the opening statements of…
It is a Wednesday afternoon in October in suite 4700—the Durham County Public Defender’s Office. A woman sits in the corridor, Face-timing a friend. Minutes…
Kellie Smith wants to spend the holidays with her children. “I missed my kids having their first steps, them crawling for the first time, them…
In Durham County Courtroom 7C recently, prosecutor Mary Jude Darrow scans a docket of first appearances, bond hearings, and probation violations. Outside, a pair of…
Judge Amanda Maris rocked her gray chair back and forth at the mahogany bench in her courtroom, where she was hearing cases involving domestic violence. …
A broad-shouldered, thick-calved man gently followed his public defender toward the mahogany podium in between the defense and prosecution’s desks in Courtroom 4D. Staring down…
On September 14, just before 2 p.m., Courtroom 7D buzzes. Attorneys chatter in the well; family members, religious leaders, and local organizers share smiles in…